title: Cyberstalking in a large sample of social network users: prevalence, characteristics, and impact upon victims.
abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of cyberstalking victimization, characteristics of victims and offenders, and the impact of cyberstalking on the victims' well-being and mental health. An online survey of 6,379 participants was carried out, involving users of the German social network StudiVZ. Subjective mental health status was assessed with the WHO-5 well-being index. The prevalence of cyberstalking was estimated at 6.3%. In various aspects, cyberstalking was comparable to offline stalking: cyberstalking occurred most often in the context of ex-partner relationships; most of the victims were female and the majority of the perpetrators were male. Compared to non-victims, victims of cyberstalking scored significantly poorer on the WHO-5 well-being index. The prevalence of cyberstalking is considerable. However, if stringent definition criteria comparable to those of offline stalking are applied, it is not a mass phenomenon. The negative impact of cyberstalking on the victims' well-being appears similar to that of offline stalking. Hence, cyberstalking should be taken as seriously as offline variants of stalking by legal authorities and victim assistance professionals.
authors.affiliation: Central Institute of Mental Health , Mannheim, Germany .
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dreßing
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bailer
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Anders
authors.forename: Henriette
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gallas
mesh_terms: D019548:Crime Victims / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D015995:Prevalence; D060756:Social Networking; D055807:Stalking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult